Ep 33 - The Biggest Mistake Clinicians Make When Creating Online Courses (And How to Avoid It)

Episode Show Notes

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Welcome to Beyond the Clinic! If you’ve ever dreamed of creating an online course that reaches more people, makes a bigger impact, and allows you to step back from constant one-on-one client work, this episode is for you.

I’m sharing my personal journey, the mistakes I made when I launched my first course (spoiler: it didn’t go as planned) and the five game-changing lessons I’ve learned since. By the end of this episode, you’ll know how to avoid the common pitfalls and create a course that your audience actually wants—a course they’re excited to buy and one that delivers consistent income for you.

What You’ll Learn

• The crushing mistake I made with my first course—and why it happens to so many healthcare professionals.

• The five steps that turned my flopped launch into a thriving six-figure course business:

1. Know your audience inside out. Go beyond surface-level details and dive into their biggest worries and dreams.

2. Ask before you create. Don’t assume you know what they want—ask them directly.

3. Pre-sell your course. Validate your idea by selling it before you build it.

4. Design for your audience, not your expertise. Solve their problems, not what you think they should learn.

5. Position yourself as the expert. Build trust and authority so your audience sees you as their go-to guide.

My Action Step for You

Take just five minutes today to connect with your audience. Hop on Instagram, Facebook, or send a quick email and ask:

• What’s their biggest challenge related to your topic?

• What would they love to see in a solution?

Write down their top three answers. This one simple step can transform how you approach your course idea.

Resources to Help You Succeed

• Episode 4: How to Nail Market Research for Your Course

• Episode 21: How Rosie Martin Pre-Sold Her Course and Validated Her Idea

Thank you so much for tuning in today. I know first hand how frustrating it can be to pour your heart into a project that doesn’t land the way you hoped. That’s why I’m here—to help you create a course that actually resonates and sells.

If you found this episode helpful, don’t forget to hit subscribe, share it with a colleague, or leave a review. And join me next week for a special pre-Christmas episode all about self-care for busy business owners.

Talk soon!

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Episode transcription:

Sarah Almond Bushell: [00:00:00] Welcome to episode number 33 called the biggest mistake clinicians make when creating online courses and how to avoid it. If you are someone who's ever dreamed of creating an online course, a course that allows you to reach more people, make a bigger impact and maybe even reduce those one to one client hours, then you are going to want to listen in here.

Many healthcare professionals are excited by this vision, but there's a crucial mistake I see my colleagues make time and time again. They pour their knowledge, their expertise, their heart into a course that they believe in. Only to discover that no one's buying it. In today's episode, I'm going to share with you my own journey, the mistakes that I made, and the five key lessons that I learned that transformed my online courses business from a flop, essentially.

By the end of this [00:01:00] episode, you'll know exactly how to create a course that your audience actually wants, one that they are eager to buy and one that brings in real value to them and consistent income to you. So let's dive in and make sure that your course idea has got what it takes to really succeed.

So, imagine you're sitting at your computer, you're staring at the web page for your brand new online course, the page you've spent weeks, no, months perfecting. The course itself, it's just amazing. It's everything you know, everything you've learned. Poured into modules, poured into worksheets, poured into videos.

There is so much value in it for your potential customers. You can practically feel the weight of your expertise embedded in every session. It's the best version of you. It's distilled and created with such care and attention. And today, Is launch day, [00:02:00] you hit publish on that webpage with a thrill, imagining the signups, pouring in your email notifications, lighting up one after another, ping, ping, ping, except there's no sound.

There's silence. Hours go by and you refresh your page. Surely there must be some sort of mistake, maybe a technical error. But there isn't. It's just quiet. So you put together a few social media posts to share about it on Instagram. And then for good measure you hop into a handful of Facebook groups where you know your ideal client hangs out and you share about it in there.

But still, nothing. A few days later, you eventually get a sign up. But it's your best friend. So the thrill that you imagined you'd feel just doesn't happen. So you keep posting on Instagram. You keep posting on Facebook. You even set up a Twitter account and you post it over there. You ask your colleagues to share it on [00:03:00] their accounts.

You put a big red banner across your website. But none of this has any impact. This online course was supposed to be the thing that finally gave you freedom. The freedom to take a day off. The freedom to stop seeing one on one clients, or at least reduce them. The freedom to make a bigger impact in the world.

And it feels a bit personal. It can feel like you've failed. You just don't know where you've gone wrong. Everyone says online courses are booming, so why does no one want yours? And it hurts, I know it does. Because this is my story, and the story of my first online course. Now sadly I'm not the only one to have had a similar experience.

So many of my colleagues tell me that they are creating a course. It's their number one goal for the year ahead. They're pouring their heart and soul and every spare moment of their free time into this course. And I am so [00:04:00] worried for them. I want to stop them in their tracks and I want to fire off a hundred questions to them first.

Because when you've got a course that no one buys, the disappointment is unbearable. crushing. You start to question every decision you've made, the hours, the late nights spent researching, recording, editing, so much of your time, your energy, your expertise invested. You think about the endless revisions that you've made, perfecting each module, each lesson, imagining how each section would impact someone's life and improve someone's health.

You've poured in everything, but now there's Doubt. Maybe passive income was just a pipe dream. Maybe online courses are not for you. Maybe you're not even cut out for this online space. And these thoughts are heavy. They weigh on your shoulders. They make you wonder whether it's really worth it. Because it isn't just about the time lost, is it?

It's also the money, the [00:05:00] investments you made, paying for tech, for course hosting platforms, for design help. It's that gnawing feeling that All the work that you did was for nothing. You've put yourself out there, you've taken this leap only for it to fall flat. And worst of all, it's the loss of confidence.

That voice whispering that maybe you should just stick with what's safe. Maybe the online space is just too crowded, it's too competitive. Maybe people just don't want what it is that you have to offer. This is the pain and the frustration of creating a course that doesn't connect with your audience. A course built on everything you know your clients need, but it's not a course built on what they actually want.

So seven, nearly eight years ago, now in 2017, I launched my very first online course. I still [00:06:00] remember the excitement, the high hopes, the big dreams I had. It was my ticket out of the NHS. At that point, I'd been there for 18 years in dietetic jobs, in several senior management positions, and then back into clinical.

And it really was time for me to leave. So I poured my heart, my soul into creating what I thought was a truly valuable resource. Something every new parent would just flock to. It was a course on baby nutrition and in creating it I'd followed the advice from All the big online marketing gurus to the T.

I'd listen to their podcasts on repeat, pausing and implementing and playing the next bit. I followed their free tips to the letter. I thought I'd done absolutely everything right. Then launch day came and I could feel the adrenaline. I sat there at the kitchen table with my laptop after a very early start before heading into the hospital, [00:07:00] expecting my notifications just to light up as the sales flooded in.

I was envisaging this huge wave of enrolments, picturing new parents eager to learn, hitting that buy button again and again and again, but nothing happened. I kept refreshing the page thinking, Oh, maybe I've forgotten to make it live. Maybe my email notifications were just delayed in cyberspace somewhere, but they weren't.

And as those hours turned into days, I came to the realization that my big dream of a successful course launch had fallen flat. I didn't actually launch the course. That was one mistake. I didn't know what launch actually meant, but there were many, many more fundamentally huge ones. At the time, I was doing some consultancy work for Annabelle Carmel.

If you don't know who she is, she's really big in the world of baby weaning, and As a friend, she offered to share about my course [00:08:00] on her social media channels. In fact, she did this once a month for six months or so, which was really very kind of her. But even so, even with her massive audience and her huge high profile, I hardly made any money.

The sales that I'd envisaged were just not there. And I was left with this really heavy feeling of disappointment, like this weight pressing down on my shoulders, and I just couldn't shake it. The questions that were running through my mind on a loop, you know, had I, had I misjudged everything? Was this a sign that I wasn't meant to be in the online world?

Actually, you know what? I really didn't know where I'd gone wrong at all. It was actually this experience that got me interested in business strategy and marketing and fueled my desire to go off and train to become a business strategist and coach. So I did, and then I learned exactly where I went wrong.

And it's the same place where [00:09:00] so many of my colleagues go wrong with their online courses too. So, fast forward a few years, I've got a few online courses under my belt now and they all sell really well. I've stepped away from the children's nutritionist quite a fair bit because these courses sell on automation.

Now, that really is true passive income. I spend about one day a month in that business. These courses, they bring in consistent, reoccurring revenue every single month, amounting to multiple six figures in a year. And I've built a business that not only supports my family and me, but it's freed up my time to allow me to start and grow a second business, my business coaching company, to support you and your business growth too.

All right, let's dive into the meat and potatoes of this episode, into what I learned from this journey and more importantly, how you can avoid those same pitfalls. Now, the goal here is to ensure that you're [00:10:00] creating something your audience actually wants. Not just what you want to teach them. Here's how you do that.

The first thing is you've got to know your audience deeply. This first step is foundational and you cannot skip it. You need to get to know your audience on a deeper level than just their demographics. It's. Tempting to stop at the basics, like I did. I knew I wanted new parents. You could be people wanting to go vegan, or perimenopausal women who want to lose weight.

But you know what? This is surface level, and this is nowhere near enough. This shallow understanding won't lead to a course that people want to buy. You need to know their hyperspecific challenges, their frustrations, what angers them, what worries them. And on the flip side, what are their goals and their hopes and their dreams?

This is called their psychographics. [00:11:00] And you need to know the details of literally what keeps them lying awake in bed at night. Now I go into this in quite a lot of depth in episode four on market research. So if you haven't heard that one, Definitely go and check it out for some practical ways to get to know your audience better.

Number two is to ask before you build a single asset of your course. Don't assume you know what people want. Go and ask them directly. So this is one of the most common steps that people skip, but it's also one of the most valuable. So when I created that first course, I designed it around my expertise and what I knew parents needed in order to wean their babies the very best way that they could, but I hadn't actually validated it by asking my audience if it was what they wanted.

And that's where so many course creators go wrong. They build their courses in a healthcare bubble and not with the [00:12:00] real world. So how do you make sure you're on the right track? It's so simple. You just build it with your audience. You get their input every step of the way with surveys and polls and you organize focus groups and Zoom calls.

You gauge their interest and you get feedback on your ideas in real time. So here's a top tip with you. As you're doing this work, keep a voice of customer word bank of phrases and language that they use to describe their problems, their hopes, their dreams, and how this actually plays out in their day to day life.

And you can use this in your marketing material later. It is like. Gold. Okay. My third piece of advice for you is to pre sell to validate the demand for your course. So the best way to tell if there is enough demand for your course is to pre sell it. Yes, sell spots on it [00:13:00] even before you've even created it.

So this might sound intimidating, but hear me out. A pre sale lets you see if people are actually willing to pay for your course idea before you invest even half an hour of your time. or any of your energy into creating a single slide.

This way you'll know you're building something people are not only interested in, but truly are ready to buy. It's real world proof that your course will resonate and there is a demand. If the demand isn't there, no matter how good your course is, it will not sell. And if you can't prove that demand by pre selling, you have the flexibility at this point to pivot your idea before you've wasted any time and energy on creating assets.

So, you usually pre sell with a discount, and I really would love you to listen to episode number 21 with [00:14:00] Rosie Martin if you want some inspiration on how we did this with her course, The Flourishing Vegan. Okay, my fourth piece of advice for you is to create with your audience in mind and not just your expertise.

Now, it's so easy to get caught up in what you know you want to teach, but your course isn't about you. It's about solving your audience's problems. A course has got a very particular structure. It takes people from point A, where they have a problem, to point B, where their problem has gone away. And your solution is the steps taken in between those two points.

So once you have your topic idea validated, Go back to your audience responses to your surveys and conversations and keep those front and center as you build out your course. If they say they are time poor and they struggle with quick and easy meal ideas, give them a meal plan as part of your course.

Do not teach them how to [00:15:00] meal plan for themselves. That might be something you want to do, but they've told you they want a quick win. They do not want a long slog. So when you listen and really hear what they want, you can tailor your course to meet their specific needs, which will make it far more compelling with a greater perceived value, which means you can charge a higher price for it.

And then my fifth piece of advice for you is to position yourself as the go to expert in this area, because. Even the best course will go unnoticed if you haven't built an audience who see you as the go to expert. People want to know that they can trust you to get them the results that they want to achieve.

They need to know that they're learning from someone who understands their struggles and has the expertise to help them. So this isn't just about your professional credentials, it's about showing up for them. consistently. It's about talking about your topic. [00:16:00] It's about sharing valuable insights and having opinions.

And it's about establishing yourself as the trusted voice in your niche. It's about building a personal brand. You can start with regular relevant content that speaks to your audience needs. You can. Use your face and voice. And if you do, that's even better. You're going to get there so much more quickly.

So do consider video or podcasting, but if that feels too big and I get it, it did for me too, at the beginning, you can try blog posts or social media posts and whatever method you choose. underpin it with regular, at least weekly, newsletters to your email list. Now this builds credibility and a really strong connection.

It helps establish you as the authority that makes people want to buy from you. So there you have it. Today, we've covered the essential steps to building a course that your audience truly wants to [00:17:00] buy. Without any of these, your course will not sell. We started with the importance of knowing your audience on a deeper level, then explored how asking for input and pre-selling can validate your ideas.

Before you dive into the course creation part, we've talked about structuring your course around your audience's needs, not just your own expertise. And finally, we talked about the power of positioning yourself as their go to expert. So with these steps all in place, you can avoid the frustration of building something that doesn't sell.

And instead you'll create a course resonates and delivers the impact. That you wanted to have. Remember your expertise is valuable, but only when it meets your audience where they're at. I can't wait to see how you put these steps into action in your own business. So my action step for you today is just to take five minutes today and reach out to [00:18:00] your audience.

And ask them what they're struggling with right now in relation to the topic you have in mind. Whether it's through a quick Instagram poll, a question in your Facebook group, a short email to your list, your goal is to uncover the specific pain points and desires that they have. in their own words. Write down the top three challenges that come up and keep this list handy if you're thinking about creating a course because this simple step will ensure that you're creating something that they truly want, not just what you think they need.

So that's it for today, but join me next time where in our pre Christmas episode, I'm going to be talking to you all about what you should be doing during this lovely period of downtime. It's all about your self care practices, specifically for busy business owners. Bye for now.